"I've been looking forward to this all week," Clementine said to Mackenzie Sawyer. The two ladies had just been dropped off at the charity food kitchen for the two hour appearance that had been arranged by WWE.
"Me too," Mackenzie replied. "It'll be something different to signing autographs for a couple of hours, that's for sure."
After walking into the building's entrance area, Clem took a look around at the displays of enlarged photographs on the walls. They featured shots of people who were clearly down on their luck being served plates of surprisingly delicious-looking food by the kitchen's staff. Everyone in the pictures was smiling. She was struck by what a nice welcome the scene provided for first time visitors. Although she had known it would be the case ahead of time, she really felt like this was such an uplifting place. There was a lot of negativity in the world, but this was totally the opposite: people coming together to help others. There were few things Clem believed in more in life than that ethos, dating back to when she herself had been the one in need, and Seth and Lucy had stepped up for her.
"Maybe we'll have our pictures up there?" Mackenzie speculated, pointing to the far wall, where there was still some free space.
"I'd love that," Clem said, still looking around at the pictures. She noticed that most of the staff were women, and most of them were African-American. The customers – if that was the correct word – were mostly white. She considered that a triumph for race relations.
The door that led into the main body of the building opened and a very short woman who had to be in her sixties walked through. Clem recognised her from some of the pictures. "Hi. Are you Clementine and Mackenzie?" The woman asked in a cheerful tone that matched the smile on her face.
Clem offered her hand. "Yes. I'm Clementine. We're really excited to be here."
"I'm Flora. It's lovely to meet you both."
"Thanks for inviting us," Mackenzie said warmly as she took her turn to shake hands.
"Please follow me," Flora said, turning and walking back through the door she had arrived through, then holding it open for her guests.
Clem walked into the dining area, finding that several people were already in there, eating their free meals. The tables and chairs were all cheaply made, but that was hardly important. What mattered was that the food looked good. Each plate contained a thick slice of crusty bread, a portion of salad, rice, chicken and a few vegetables. "The meals look nice," she said to Flora as they headed for the staff door that lead to the kitchen.
"We do the best we can. Often, we rely on food that people donate to us, or food we buy with money that is donated, which we then cook and serve."
"How do people apply for a free meal?" Mackenzie wanted to know. "Or can anyone come in?"
Flora stopped in front of the door. "Anyone can come in for a meal. It would be wrong to try and put restrictions on it." With that, she opened the door and walked into the kitchen.
"We're glad to be able to help," Clem said, following along behind. "What would you like us to do?"
Flora considered that for a moment, looking around at her staff, who were busy cooking or plating up food. "I'd like one of you to help with plating up the food, and one to take it to tables for people. Is that okay with you?"
"Absolutely," Clem said. "I'll work in the dining room then, passing the meals out. Are you happy to do the plating up, Mack?"
"Sure," McKenzie agreed easily.
"Alright," Flora said, pleased with the positive attitude from the volunteers. "McKenzie, I'll have someone show you the correct portions for each plate. Clementine, you'll collect plates from the counter and take them to consumers, and bring used plates back here to be washed. Each consumer also gets a choice of a hot drink, fruit juice or water, so you'll also be handing those out."
Clem nodded. "Got it. Shall we get started?"
"Before you do, I need you to put one of these on," Flora said. She picked up a nearby roll of disposable plastic aprons, tore one off and handed it to Clementine. After Mack took one for herself, Flora added, "You'll also need to put gloves on, please." She offered them a box of latex gloves.
Clementine pulled a pair of gloves out of the box and set about working her hands into them. "Feels more like I'm about to perform surgery or something," she said once her fingers were comfortable.
Flora smiled. "Thankfully not, but you might be busy. Some days we are, others not so much."
"Busy isn't a problem," Clem assured her.
"Okay. Clementine, you can go back into the dining area, if you want to make a start. You'll be told which tables to take the food and drinks to. Mackenzie, come with me, please."
Heading back into the dining room, Clem felt happy to have gotten the role of delivering the food. It gave her the chance to meet some of the consumers. She now knew that was the right word.
Clem walked up to the counter, where one of the team, an overweight but jolly looking woman, had just placed a plate on a plastic tray, along with a cup of coffee and a knife and fork. The meal was ready to go out.
"The older guy in the back corner, please," she said to Clem, pointing in case there was any doubt about who she meant.
"Sure." Clem picked up the plate and carried it over to the man's table. His grey hair was unwashed and messy, as were his clothes. The poor guy was probably homeless, she realised, feeling sorry for him immediately. "Your meal, sir," she said politely, setting the plate down in front of him.
"Thank you," he said, looking up at her with tired eyes. His smile was genuinely warm. "What team is that? I don't recognise it."
For a second, Clem was confused. Then she realised he was talking about her baseball cap. "Oh, it's not for a team. It's actually mine. I'm a wrestler. The company I work for sent me to volunteer here today for a couple of hours."
The man laughed good-naturedly. "You're a wrestler? A little thing like you? I'd never believe it."
Clem had to smile at that. At five feet six, she was hardly a 'little thing'. "My aunt used to wrestle. She's five feet nothing, and she was a champion many times."
"Really?" the man asked with raised eyebrows. "You learn something every day, huh? Well, it's really good of you to come and volunteer. Or do they force it on you?"
"Absolutely not. I couldn't be happier to be here," she assured him.
The man seemed to like that answer. "Well, thank you," he said before picking up his knife and fork.
"You're welcome." With that, Clem walked back over to the counter, where two more trays were being prepared. Since she and Mack had arrived, several more consumers had come in.
"These are for the lady and the little girl," a staff member told her, gesturing to a nearby table.
Clem picked up a tray in each hand, being careful not to let anything fall from them on the short walk to the table. "Here you are," she said with a smile as she put a tray down in front of a young blonde girl who she guessed to be around eight or nine years old. The other tray went to the woman, who was definitely the mother. The two looked very much alike. A single mother finding herself up against the odds, Clem guessed.
"Thank you," the woman said kindly. "What do you say, Lily?"
"Thank you," the child echoed shyly.
"You're welcome," Clem said, feeling her heart aching for the little family. She went back up to the counter, even though there were no other trays ready yet. While she watched Mackenzie fixing her first tray, Clem heard the little girl, Lily, talking excitedly to her mother.
"But she had the Clementine cap! And she looks so much like her!"
"Honey," the mother said gently, "You're not going to meet wrestlers at the food kitchen, I'm afraid."
Clem saw an opportunity to make this day one that Lily would never forget, since she obviously had an interest in wrestling. Turning around, she took off her cap and beamed one of her best smiles. "Actually, today, you will. I'm Clementine Rollins."
Lily squealed in excitement, her eyes going as wide as saucers. "Clementine?" she gasped, disbelieving.
"Yes, Lily, it's me," she said, walking back over to the table. "I'm helping out here today, so that I get to meet some awesome people like you."
"Oh my," the mother said, plainly taken aback. "Lily talks about you a lot when she watches, what is it called? NXT?"
"Yeah," Clem smiled, thinking better of clarifying the point that she was now on Raw. It hardly mattered. Lily seemed too stunned to say or do anything. "Can I get a hug?" Clem asked her, crouching down.
"Yes!" Lily cried, hopping off her chair and walking into Clem's arms.
Once they had pulled apart, Clem said, "I didn't expect to meet anyone who recognised me today, but since you did, I think I should maybe give you something." Before Lily could react, Clem took off her cap and put it on the little girl's head. "There you go; you can have my cap."
"Oh! Thank you!" Lily said excitedly, taking the cap straight back off so that she could look at it. She turned to her mother. "Mom, I got Clementine's cap!"
"I can see that, sweetie. Thank you so much," the mother said to Clem with real feeling.
That and seeing the delight on Lily's face was all the reward she needed. "You're both welcome. I have to get on, but maybe we can get a picture before you leave. Andromeda is here, too. I'll see if I can get her to come out for the picture as well."
"Thank you again, for being so nice," Lily's mom said.
"Sure thing." With that, Clem went and fetched her next tray from the counter.
Half an hour later, Clem passed by the table where Lily and her mom were sitting on her way to the kitchen with a tray piled with dirty cups, plates and cutlery from the tables she had been clearing. She noticed that they were almost done with their meals.
After dropping off the dirty items at one of the sinks, Clem walked over to Flora, who was currently cooking a fresh batch of rice. "Hey, Flora. I know we're busy right now, but there's a little girl out there who recognised me. They're about to leave, so I figured we might get a picture, with me and Mack? Maybe you could put it with the others out front?"
"Okay, but we'll have to be quick," Flora decided. She looked over at a male staff member nearby. "Tyrone, can you get the camera, please? There's a wrestling fan out there who would like a picture with Clementine and Mackenzie."
Having noticed the conversation, Mackenzie had walked over in time to hear the final sentence. "Aww, the little blonde girl?" she guessed.
Clem nodded. "Yeah. Her name's Lily."
Tyrone had walked into a room out back of the kitchen – Clem guessed an office of some kind. He now emerged carrying a digital camera.
Clementine led the way back out to the dining room and approached Lily's table. "I brought Andromeda out, Lily. We'd like to get a picture with you."
"Awesome!" Lily yelped, looking up at another of the women she had seen on TV. "Hi, Andromeda. You don't look so mean."
"I'm not so mean when Elena's not around. But you need to keep to keep that a secret."
"Oh, okay," Lily said seriously as she got up to join the two wrestlers so that they could pose for the picture. Clem couldn't help smiling, or imagining that was exactly how she must have acted when she had first gone backstage with Lucy.
Clem and Mackenzie stood either side of Lily, and all three of them said cheese when instructed by Tyrone.
"I'll make sure to post that picture later," Clem promised Lily.
After they had been thanked profusely for their kindness by Lily's mom, it was time to get back to work.
Later that day, Clementine was sitting in the women's locker room, about to get changed for the upcoming house show. Her mom was beside her, busy chatting away to Selena Robbins.
Rather than join the conversation, Clem decided to check Twitter. She had asked Tyrone to send her the picture they had gotten with Lily. Sure enough, it was there in her direct message inbox.
Clem saved the picture, then added it to a new tweet. She typed out a caption: It was great to meet Lily today while I was serving food at a charity food kitchen. Moments like this are one of the main reasons we do what we do. It was very humbling to be able to help people in need. I hope to able to do so again soon.
A/N: Special thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I appreciate it.
Clem had a nice time at the food kitchen, and do did Lily! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. Might this lead to Clem doing more charity work in the future?